57 pages • 1 hour read
Kent HarufPlainsong
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1999A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Tom Guthrie
Guthrie is a high school history teacher whose life is in the process of falling apart. As his wife sinks into an all-consuming depression, he does not know how to talk to his two boys, and his class is disrupted by an arrogant student whose failure is set to cause issues. Despite this, Guthrie finds redemption through the course of the novel. He begins to date Maggie; he experiences difficult emotional moments which bring him closer to his children; and he learns to put aside the thoughts of his career and understand the importance of happiness over everything else. In the final chapter, he admits that he hasn’t “made up my mind” (254) as to what he’ll do if he loses his job, but he knows that “I’ll be all right” (254). His transformation from an anxious, isolated man into a happy, accepting person is one of the central narratives in the novel.
Guthrie is the first person introduced to the narrative. As the sun rises over Holt, he is already awake. He stands in his kitchen, smoking cigarettes and pondering the day ahead. He speaks in short, sharp bursts—simple, declarative sentences which tell his boys what to do to prepare themselves for school. Guthrie is anchored in the tangible moments; his present tense declarations are almost all physical—names, instructions, corrections—which he does not have to interrogate. At a confusing time in Guthrie’s life, these sentences and snippets of dialogue are all that make sense to him. He does not have time to express himself, nor the vocabulary to fully comprehend what is happening. When he checks in on his wife, locked away in a dark room, he can only “just make out her face in the halflight” (13) and, when he asks her if she wants anything, he receives no answer. Guthrie exists in this quiet, dark world and struggles to make sense of his surroundings. He relies on what he knows and what he can affect. He has no answers for his boys because he has no answers for himself. At the beginning of the novel, Guthrie appears to be a deeply unhappy person.
In the final chapters of the novel, Guthrie is far more expressive. He has endured plenty: his estranged wife has moved to Denver, he faces disciplinary action for hitting a student, he faces police action for attacking the Beckman family, and he nearly destroyed his potential relationship with Maggie by opting for the easier-to-attain Judy when he was at his loneliest. He pulls through these difficult moments, chiefly with Maggie’s help. She teaches him to explain himself, speak out, and ask for what he wants. When the two first spend the night together, he makes a point of calling her that same evening and inviting her on a date. They go for burgers at the same restaurant where the teenagers hang out, a subtle suggestion that Guthrie is trying to relive his youth and correct his earlier mistakes. However, after he has called Maggie and arranged to meet, he looks himself in the mirror and says, “You don’t deserve it […] Don’t ever even begin to think that you do” (242). The changes Maggie brings to Guthrie’s life (teaching him how to express himself) work in opposition to his own self-loathing. He knows what he wants but still feels that he does not deserve it. By the close of the novel, there is the sense that Guthrie has become more accepting. He has come to terms with the potential of losing his job; his life is happier now, and he has more important things than his career: Maggie, his sons, and the community of Holt. By expressing himself and accepting the reality of his situation, Guthrie has learned to see the value in all of these things.
Victoria Roubideaux
Like Guthrie, Victoria must experience a great deal of hardship before she can find happiness. Throughout the course of the novel, she is abandoned by her family, mocked by her schoolmates, and threatened by the father of her child. She also finds redemption through Maggie’s help and discovers a safe haven in an unlikely place: the isolated farm of two aging brothers.
The novel begins with Victoria already suffering from the effects of her pregnancy. Her “throat burned, her chest hurt. Her brown face was unnaturally pale now, sallow and hollow” (16). While many of the other characters have at least one person they can always depend upon (Bobby and Ike have one another, as do the McPherons), Victoria has no one. She turns to Maggie, one of the few strong female role models in her life. When she decides to knock on the teacher’s door, Victoria stands “blankly waiting” (39). The decision is her last hope; if Maggie is unable to help, then she will be all alone.
At first, it seems as though Victoria has found the ideal place to stay. However, the presence of Maggie’s senile father soon renders the home a dangerous place. When Victoria arrives home one night, the old man angrily accuses her of being a burglar. He threatens to “call the authorities” (103), and nothing she can say will convince him that she is allowed to be in the home. The situation reflects Victoria situation as a whole: no matter what she says, no matter who she approaches, she cannot convince anyone that she is simply allowed to exist. Whether it is her mother, Dwayne, or Mr. Jackson, Victoria’s presence in a space is always under threat. Everywhere in Holt, she finds herself driven out and chased away due to the nature of her condition.
It makes sense, then, that she should be able to find a safe place by extricating herself from the town. When Victoria first visits the McPheron home on the fringes of Holt, she is nervous and timid. She does not know what to say and does not know how the men will react. She “looked frightened and preoccupied” (130), and Maggie mistakes these nerves for morning sickness. Victoria’s first arrival at the McPheron farm contrasts with her return after staying in Denver with Dwayne. On the first occasion, she does not know what to say. She is very much a nervous child in a difficult situation. On the second occasion, Victoria has grown. She has lived a number of different lives and has realized that—as strange as the brothers are—their home is the best environment for her and her child. While she struggles to voice her wishes the first time, she explicitly states what she wants the second time. Though she admits that she is “afraid what they’re going to say” (250), Victoria exits Maggie’s car, approaches the porch, and asks to be taken back. She does not need Maggie to lay the groundwork this time; Victoria has grown enough as a person to know what she needs and how to express herself.
Shortly after Victoria’s baby is born, Dwayne arrives at the farm and demands that she leave with him. Victoria, though nervous and afraid, does not overreact. She continues talking, stringing Dwayne along until the brothers return from their farm work. She has a plan and an awareness about her environment, as well as knowledge of what she wants. In this scene, Victoria illustrates the conviction she has gained over the course of the novel. By the end of the novel, she will not be taken away from her home. She will not be kicked out, kidnapped, or led astray. Instead, Victoria knows exactly where she needs to be.
Maggie Jones
Maggie stands alone among the characters in the novel. She is a good communicator, she acts with a plan, and she rarely allows herself to be affected by the failings in those around her. By some distance, she is the most altruistic member of the community. She does a great deal of unheralded work, whether it is in the school or helping Victoria find assistance in the home of the McPherons. She also takes care of her aging, senile father and hosts staff parties at her home. Maggie emerges as the well-adjusted, moral core of the novel, though there are moments where her mask slips.
One of these moments occurs when she is introduced into the narrative. Guthrie arrives at school and sits in the staff lounge. He has already turned his eye over Judy, the secretary, and argued with Crowder about Russell. Maggie is already in the staff lounge, and they begin to talk. Though they are making polite conversation, her ability to discern dissatisfaction is obvious: “You don’t look good” (27) she tells Guthrie, asking him what is wrong. Though he denies any perturbing issue, Maggie insists. She attempts to break down Guthrie’s resistant, silent façade. Her opportunity to find out, however, is halted by the arrival of Irving Curtis. For the next few minutes, Curtis acts inappropriately toward Maggie. Rather than her usual geniality, Maggie tells Curtis to not be “such an ass” (28) and treats him with scorn before leaving the room. While many characters will receive nothing but pleasantries and assistance from Maggie, Curtis shows the reader that there is a limit to her altruism.
After Guthrie finds temporary solace in the bed of Judy the secretary, Maggie confronts him. The whole town is aware that Guthrie spent the night at Judy’s house, and Maggie “came into his room in the afternoon after the last class” (197). Maggie is not in the staff lounge; this is not a communal space, but she is entering Guthrie’s space to demand answers. She begins with a question (delivered without context): “Is this the way it’s going to be now?” (197). When Guthrie pleads ignorance, she tells him he is “too old to play dumb” (97). For the first time, Maggie seems annoyed that other characters lack her emotional intelligence. This conflict shakes Guthrie into action, forcing him to confront the reality that—if he wants to be with Maggie—he has to seize the initiative. As she tells him, she “will not compete” (198) for Guthrie’s affections. Such childish games are beneath Maggie, though ignorance and emotional indifference are offensive enough to break through her typically altruistic and positive demeanor.
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